A CAFE and foodbank has reopened to serve a Bradford community just weeks after its roof nearly collapsed.
Bamboo Connect, on Halifax Road, which is next to the Rock Church, reopened on Friday (May 26) after following to repair the roof of the building.
“We’re reopening but we don’t quite have enough to cover the cost of the works,” said volunteer Alison Wilson. “It cost £18,000 but we don’t have it all.
“As a church (the Rock Church), we’ve raised £12,000 which includes donations from the Sunbridge Mission Church and the charity Metro Kids Africa. We’re still £6,000 short.
"Our roof was inspected and we had woodworm and dry rot in the joists.
"It was in danger of collapse and it was deemed we had to close.
"It's all been repaired now and we reopened at 10am on Friday and we had a little celebration with balloons."
Bamboo Connect and the Rock Church next door have now launched an appeal to raise the remaining money.
Alison said that Bamboo Connect, a café and foodbank which serves the local communities of Woodside and Buttershaw, has been open for a year but in its short time of opening it has seen its share of challenges.
"We were broken into in January and someone stole all of our food and other items.
The T&A covered the break-in at the time, and Alison told us: “I think the fact that they’ve stolen food makes it a lot worse.
“That food is helping people, it could be helping the neighbours of those who broke in, or even their relatives.
“Our community café is ‘pay what you feel’. It offers people a warm space, and anybody is welcome. That also makes this even harder to take.”
Alison added that the other items stolen included a TV, computers, a panini maker and a milkshake maker.
This week, Alison said: "We've been very lucky because we've had some generous people give us some equipment to replace what we lost.
"Our neighbours, Tesco on Halifax Road, have also been really good for us. They're amazing.
"We literally don't charge people to use our cafe. They can give us a small donation if they wish.
"We are also a foodbank that doesn't need a referral.
"We're only open on Friday at the moment, but we're hoping to expand that."
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